1. Field of the Description
The present invention relates, in general, to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) such as quadrotors, and, more particularly, to a docking and charging station adapted to be autonomous and a method of docking and charging UAVs without human intervention (e.g., in an autonomous manner).
2. Relevant Background
The research on autonomous miniature flying robots has intensified considerably in recent years due in large part to civil and military interest in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) including multicopters (e.g., quadrotors). To date, the capabilities of UAVs surpassed by far human-controlled flight because powerful feedback control loops allow computers to control the UAVs with far greater precision, speed, and reliability. The control techniques allow the UAVs to be autonomous in large part, but human intervention has not yet been completely removed as each UAV has a major limiting characteristic in the form of the need for electrical power to continue to operate. For example, many UAVs may only be able to fly for 10 to 20 minutes without a replacement or recharge of onboard batteries.
Hence, an ongoing engineering challenge is that UAVs (and are other mobile robots) are constrained in their long term functionality due to a limited onboard power supply. Typically, rechargeable batteries are utilized to provide the onboard electrical power, and such batteries are chosen to be lightweight such that they may only provide a few minutes to an hour of peak usage before recharging is necessary. Recharging requires that the UAV be taken offline (e.g., landing) and having the batteries recharged or replaced via human intervention. Presently, the UAV lands on the ground in a large open space such as a vacant lot or field, and a human operator manually takes out a battery from the UAV for recharging and replaces it with a previously charged battery.
Such human intervention is unacceptable in many existing or planned operating environments where long term autonomous capabilities are desired. As a result, there remains a need for better ways to recharge onboard power supplies such as batteries on UAVs such as the commonly used and prevalent quadrotors.